Mali: President admits having established contacts with jihadists

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta acknowledged on Monday for the first time the existence of contacts with jihadist groups, justifying them by the need to explore the ways out of the crisis after eight years of war.

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However, he added that he was still awaiting a response from the jihadists to the approach taken by one of his representatives. " The number of dead today in the Sahel is becoming exponential and I think it is time that certain avenues are explored, " said Keïta in an interview with the France 24 channel and Radio France Internationale (RFI). This statement breaks with the attitude of the highest Malian leaders, who have so far officially rejected this dialogue. In late January, the president's high representative for central Mali, Dioncounda Traore, himself a former president, said he had " personally sent emissaries to (Amadou) Koufa and Iyad (ag Ghali) ", the two main jihadist leaders in the country. " We are ready to launch the bridges to dialogue with everyone (...) At some point you have to sit around a table and discuss, " he said.

Dioncounda Traoré, " is on a mission for me " and " has a duty to listen to everyone ", said President Keïta. Its mission is to determine if certain people around the chiefs can be " sensitive to a reasoning speech ", said Keïta. Fighting and interacting with jihadist groups is " not mutually exclusive, " he said. " We are trying to do it ", but without " naivety ", assured Mr. Keïta. " We are not great candid people who think that this door will open right away, (we will) go and sit on Koufa's prayer skin to say to him: Good, listen dear friend, come back to better feelings now and lay down your arms . " " I admit that even today, we are waiting for some tremors ", after the poles extended to the relatives of the jihadist leaders, he said.

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